A Guangzhou man killed three relatives in a domestic dispute before killing himself, according to the Yangcheng Evening News.
According to police, the killer, Mr. Ye, 34, was suffering from depression. He killed his 36 year-old elder sister, her 11 year-old son, and his 5 year-old nephew before jumping from the 7th floor of a building in Ruibao residence in Haizhu District. All of them died instantly, according to local media.
The victims were found by paramedics in a locked room of their apartment. Neighbours heard a child shouting for help but did not know what the quarrel was about.
Overall, however, the Chinese cases of depression seem to follow Western patterns of risk factors and symptoms, according to Scientific American.
According to Professor Michael Phillips, the executive director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, depression and other mental illnesses are a serious problem in China and the country has far from enough resources to deal with it.
However, a study that began in 2008 showed that a higher level of education is associated with a greater risk of depression in China and there was a negative correlation between having authoritarian parents and suffering from depression. These are the opposite of trends in the West.